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The late Archbishop Jonah Mugambe Lwanga, who reigned as the Orthodox Metropolitan of the Holy Metropolis of Kampala and Uganda between 1997 and 2021, was acknowledged as a man of very big dreams. 

One of such dreams was the proposed Hagia Sophia Cathedral on Lubya Hill in Rubaga division, Kampala. He intended the church to serve as the monument for the 100th anniversary of the Orthodox faith in Uganda. 

The project was launched with a breaking of the ground ceremony presided over by President Yoweri Museveni in 2019. When Lwanga opened up about his desire to build the cathedral, many saw him as a crazy, wishful man. 

So, what prompted him to swerve into an ecclesial project that even members of his church looked at as “mission impossible”?

History of Cathedral  

During an interview in 2019, Lwanga told me the cathedral was going to be the faultless replica of the historic but ‘controversial’ Hagia Sophia Cathedral of Istanbul, which the Ottoman Turks overran in the 15th century. 

He said the gigantic cathedral was going to sit on six acres, which Kabaka Daudi Chwa of Buganda donated to the Orthodox Church. 

Lwanga added that the name Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) refers to an old place of worship in Istanbul, which was designed by two Greek geometers: Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. 

It was built between 532 and 537 (AD) by Justinian, the Eastern Roman Emperor, as the Christian Cathedral of Constantinople.

It was then the world’s largest Christian church and it remained so for over a thousand years. It was also among the first churches to employ a fully pendentive dome.

Hagia Sophia remains a marvellous complex of enormous historic and spiritual significance to both Christians and Muslims. 

It is acknowledged as the pinnacle of Byzantine architecture; the paradigmatic Orthodox Church form whose architecture was deeply emulated by Ottoman mosques. 

It holds a unique position in the Christian world, and as an architectural and cultural icon of Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox civilisation. Hagia Sophia was the centre of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly 1000 years. 

It is where the excommunication of Patriarch Michael I Cerularius was officially delivered by Humbert of Silva Candida, the envoy of Pope Leo IX in 1054, marking the start of the East-West Christian Schism. 

Hagia Sophia is of such great interest that it was Turkey’s biggest tourist attraction in 2015 and 2019, according to the data released by the country’s ministry of culture and tourism. 

By the time Lwanga conceived the idea of replicating the historically rich, religiously significant Hagia Sophia Cathedral; it had the museum status and was used by both Christians and Muslims. 

How good and pleasant it can be for Uganda if Lwanga’s dream of the cathedral is realised! What a big boost to Uganda’s tourism sector!

Courageous, outspoken 

Lwanga was also acknowledged by many as a courageous and outspoken crusader of justice, peace, human rights and democratic governance. 

He was always vehement in his condemnation of vices such as political dishonesty, exploitation, oppression and domination of the poor and the weak by those in positions of power. 

He never had kind words for political leaders who promote and thrive on vices such tribalism, nepotism, land grabbing and violence.

Remembering Lwanga 

Tuesday, September 5, 2023 marked exactly two years since the death of Lwanga.

Orthodox Christians and many other Ugandans of goodwill converged at St Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral Namungoona in Rubaga division to mark the anniversary. 

The activities started with a three-hour divine liturgy presided over by the Orthodox Metropolitan of the Holy Metropolis of Kampala and All Western Uganda, Jeronymos Muzeeyi. 

The Orthodox Bishop of Gulu and all Northern Uganda, the Rt. Rev. Nectarios Kabuye, who was the guest of honour, also celebrated the memorial Mass and led the commendation prayers at the tomb of the deceased prelate.

The irony 

Lwanga was greatly acknowledged as a great crusader of justice, who condemned the exploitation, oppression and domination of the poor by the politically, socially and financially powerful minority. 

He would even shed tears as he condemned those who grabbed land from orphans and widows. It is therefore ironical that two years after his death, the land grabbers are still at large, doing their mischief with impunity. 

They use policemen, soldiers and ruthless goons to destroy their victims’ houses and plantations, and force them off their land. 

It is more ironical that even the Orthodox Church land in Lubya, on which Lwanga wanted to construct the cathedral, is still under the occupation of armed men, two years after the matter was reported to the President. 

Speaking during the memorial Mass at Namungoona, the head of the Orthodox Laity, Theodore Ssekikubo, called upon the President to help the Orthodox Church to flush out armed men that are occupying its land at Lubya as he promised, so that construction of the cathedral can start.